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"It's the economy, stupid." - Paul Begala --------- "The principal feature of the latest stage of capitalism is the domination of monopolist associations of big employers. These monopolies are most firmly established when all the sources of raw materials are captured by one group, and we have seen with what zeal the international capitalist associations exert every effort to deprive their rivals of all opportunity of competing, to buy up, for example, ironfields, oilfields, etc. Colonial possession alone gives the monopolies complete guarantee against all contingencies in the struggle against competitors, including the case of the adversary wanting to be protected by a law establishing a state monopoly. The more capitalism is developed, the more strongly the shortage of raw materials is felt, the more intense the competition and the hunt for sources of raw materials throughout the whole world, the more desperate the struggle for the acquisition of colonies." "VI. DIVISION OF THE WORLD AMONG THE GREAT POWERS," Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism: A POPULAR OUTLINE, Vladmir I. Lenin. Imperialism is the tell-tale heart of American culture: " sad result was not the result of malice, indifference, or ruthless and predatory exploitation. American leaders were not evil men. They did not conceive and excuse some dreadful conspiracy. Nor were they treacherous hypocrites. They believed deeply in the ideals they proclaimed, and they were sincere in arguing that their policies and actions would ultimately create that would be responsibly self-governed, economically prosperous, and socially happy stable and happy."
William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, New York and London: W.W. Norton and Co., 1959, 1984.
Also, see the following which is an even better read than Tragedy and has excellent timing in regards to your selected cases:
A work of remarkable prescience, Empire As A Way of Life is influential historian William Appleman Williams's groundbreaking work highlighting imperialism-"empire as a way of life"-as the dominant theme in American history. Analyzing U.S. history from its revolutionary origins to the dawn of the Reagan era, Williams shows how America has always been addicted to empire in its foreign and domestic ideology. Detailing the imperial actions and beliefs of revered figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this book is the most in-depth historical study of the American obsession with empire, and is essential to understanding the origins of our current foreign and domestic undertakings.
William Appleman Williams (1921-1990) was one of the 20th century's most prominent historians of American diplomacy. His The Tragedy of American Diplomacy is often described as one of the most influential books written on American foreign policy, and Empire As A Way of Life is considered a seminal work on the study of American imperialism.
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Way-Life-Predicament-Alternative/dp/0977197239/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2970744-5260008?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180160002&sr=8-1
Add faction via Federalist #10:
"The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government."
And what do you get: 1898 as both a high imperial moment on the continent and the beginning of America's global imperial expansion and all in the name of "national security."
Scream it from the highest mountain: GLOBAL CAPITALIST SYSTEM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Systems_Theory
It is not so much that American government is broken as it is that it works exactly as it was designed to work. May I dare say that the Statue of Liberty is a giant farce; there is no liberty in the United States of America, there is but profit and "sacrifice."
In musical form: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0y-7fl1nJfw
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